Lawsuit: California principal censors student journalists over sexual harassment story
Reporters pressured, journalism class shut down, advisor replaced
Student journalists in California filed a lawsuit against their school and its principal, alleging censorship and retaliation following a story about student-on-student sexual harassment.
The lawsuit, filed in a state superior court two weeks ago, accuses Mountain View High School and Principal Kip Glazer of censoring The Oracle, the independent student-run newspaper.
The article in question, published in 2023, featured students sharing their experiences with sexual harassment by peers.
Named as plaintiffs are Co-Editor-in-Chief Hanna Olson, former staff writer Hayes Duenow and English teacher Carla Gomez, who was removed from her role as advisor to the student paper after the article's publication, according to the lawsuit
The court document further claims that the school retaliated by eliminating the journalism class.
“This case matters to me because I want to ensure the long-term stability and prosperity of my school’s journalism program, and I want student journalists at my school to be empowered to stand by their rights to publish stories that need to be told,” Olson said in a press release.
Before the article was published, Glazer suggested students in the journalism class focus on “uplifting” stories that portray the school positively, according to the complaint. The lawsuit described this as “unprecedented.”
The student journalists allege Glazer requested to review the final draft of the article and separately met with reporters, exerting “enormous and unlawful” pressure to censor the story.
As a result, the article underwent significant changes, including the removal of “disturbing” incident descriptions and important story contexts, according to the lawsuit.
The pressure “seriously concerned and confused Duenow because Duenow felt that she and her colleagues had gone to great lengths to thoughtfully treat the victims and the alleged harassers in the article,” the lawsuit states.
Following the story publication, Glazer announced the elimination of the journalism program, with a drama teacher slated to replace Gomez as the paper's advisor, the court document says.
The lawsuit contends that Glazer's actions violated California's student free expression law and the whistleblower protection clause of the state labor law.
The plaintiffs seek reinstatement of the journalism class and Gomez's role as an advisor by the next academic year, along with an end to future censorship and other damages.
Glazer, the school and the attorney for the plaintiffs didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Just a few miles from the high school, Richard Craig, an advisor to San Jose State University student paper The Spartan Daily, drew parallels to a similar incident at the university a few years ago.
The student newspaper in 2017 reported on the return of a former professor who was found guilty of sexual harassment and kept his department chair position for five months. The controversy led to a sit-in protest and a petition calling for his firing. The professor ultimately resigned.
“As soon as we published, we heard from the guy’s lawyer,” said Craig, who teaches journalism. “We were threatened with legal action, (but) our lawyer responded to their lawyer, and it went away.”
Despite the legal threat, the student journalists continued their reporting, publishing multiple stories on the matter. They received help from a local attorney, the Student Press Law Center and the Center for Investigative Reporting, Craig said.
The incident shed light on the challenges institutions face when confronted with negative publicity. Craig highlighted the discrepancy between administrators’ support for freedom of the press and their response to critical stories.
“To what extent are they comfortable saying that student media has the right to write whatever they want?” Craig said. “The important thing about that was we tell our students to don’t be afraid of controversies but be smart about it.”
California education law explicitly provides legal protections for student journalists. It’s among the 17 states that have laws safeguarding them.
Advocates are actively campaigning for similar protections to be implemented nationwide.
Given that the court complaint in The Orcale’s case includes allegations of both prior restraint and post-publication retaliation, Craig said the combination of these factors “could have a real chilling effect.”
Censorship lawsuits involving student journalists aren’t uncommon.
A former Nebraska high school student along with the state student press group sued Grand Island Northwest Public Schools and its superintendent last year. The lawsuit was in response to the shutdown of The Viking Saga newspaper after it published an LGBTQ-focused issue. The court later dismissed the suit.
A student editor at Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas accused the university president of instructing him not to contact any government agency for information. The president later walked back his instruction saying it took “an incorrect approach.” The case was settled in 2022.
More recently, The State News filed a court complaint against Michigan State University last month. This was due to the university’s alleged refusal to fully comply with a Freedom of Information request because the president disagreed that the documents would be helpful for the paper’s reporting
In Indiana, the court sided with The Irish Rover, a publication at the University of Notre Dame, after a professor filed a defamation suit against it. One argument made was that a private student newspaper at a private university isn’t entitled to First Amendment protection.
Story Spotlight:
Students voice LGBTQ+ representation concerns, advocate for change (Chloe Almendarez and Claire Lawrence/The Hilltop Views): The story out of St. Edward University focuses on the aftermath of the removal of a pride flag. It provides a comprehensive overview of past pushback for LGBTQ initiatives on campus. The student government held a public meeting about it, but blocked student journalists from covering the topic, citing its controversial nature.
Featured Opportunities:
SPJ will host a panel on how news organizations from different countries share and enforce basic rules of journalism ethics on March 4.
The National Press Club will host a panel on online harassment and privacy protection for journalists on March 8.
If you’re working on a project to raise awareness about scientific fraud or misconduct, apply for grants from the Scientific Integrity Fund.
Freelancing with Tim on Substack is looking to hire a journalism student as an assistant.
Long Lead is looking for photo essay pitches.
The Ben Bagdikian Fellowship Program, a crash course in investigative journalism, accepts applications from recent graduates until March 24.